FOI DAILY DOSE: NYT reporter may be forced to testify, whistleblowers ask Congress to help protect them

By SPJ | June 30th, 2011

NYT reporter James Risen may not be able to quash subpoena

The third time may not be a charm for New York Times reporter James Risen, who may not be able to quash yet another subpoena from the Justice Department.

Risen filed a motion to quash a subpoena last week that would require him to testify in a criminal court case against ex-CIA agent Jeffrey Sterling, who is accused of leaking information to the reporter about a CIA operation to harm Iran’s nuclear program.

The information on the program was reportedly published in Risen’s 2006 book “State of War.”

A November 2010 ruling by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, which was made public Tuesday, said that the second subpoena against Risen would be quashed.

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2010 passed in both the House and the Senate, but was kept from becoming law by an anonymous hold that killed the bill at the end of the congressional session in Dec. 2010.

As of this week, it’s been six months since the bill – then in its third version – died in Congress.

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).

This entry was posted by SPJ
on Thursday, June 30th, 2011 at 4:01 pm and is filed under Shield law.
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